Police search dam for Walgett mum Roxlyn Bowie who went missing 36 years ago
Police have commenced a forensic search of a dam in a bid to unlock the three decade mystery of a missing NSW mother. Roxlyn Bowie 31, who disappeared from her Walgett home in June, 1982 is believed to have been murdered.
Police have commenced a forensic search of a dam in a bid to unlock the three decade mystery of a missing NSW mother.
The State Crime Command’s Robbery and Serious Crime Squad’s Strike Force Maluka will scour over and excavate two locations in Walgett as part of investigations into the 1982 disappearance and suspected murder of Roxlyn Bowie.
A team of officers will forensically examine the dam, near the intersection of Wee Waa and Wareena streets, and an industrial site, with the search expected to continue over the coming weeks.
Ms Bowie, 31, disappeared from her Walgett home in June, 1982.
John Bowie said his wife told him as he left for the pub: “If you go, I won’t be here when you get back.”
He said that when he returned a few hours later Mrs Bowie was gone.
An inquest held in 2014 found Mrs Bowie was dead but could not determine when or how she died.
Yesterday police started scouring the dam bed after a “very credible” tip that could lead them to the remains of the mother of two.
Earlier this month a $1 million reward was announced by police for information to catch her killer or locating her body.
They will sift through silt on the bottom of the dam floor.
In October Mr Bowie, now 68, said he did not kill his wife but expected he might be charged by police over her death.
“They’re going to charge me with it even though I’m innocent,” the 68-year-old said.
The year after Ms Bowie’s disappearance he married another woman.
Some of Mrs Bowie’s jewellery was pawned 12-months after her disappearance.
Mr Bowie pleaded guilty to forging his wife’s signature on a transfer of land in 1983.
He shot another man in the 1990s and said he spent four-and-a-half years in jail.
Ms Bowie left behind a two-year-old son and a daughter aged six.
Three days after she was last seen, her parents received a letter which claimed to be from Roxlyn which said she had left. The letter was posted in Coonamble, about 100km south of Walgett.
“I can’t imagine that she would leave me, she would have loved having grandchildren,” her daughter Brenda told A Current Affair on Monday night.
“I think there are things my dad might know that he hasn’t told me.”
“I think I deserve the truth, I deserve answers, my children deserve answers,” she said.
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